I am writing this week’s blog post from New York City. Still suffering from jet lag a few days ago I left Bangkok and via Hong Kong and made my way back to the States. Since most of the schools I have been serving in Asia are now on break for several months I opted to return home until August. During this time I will be building a couple of new courses and sharing my teaching experiences. Along with this I will also share themes from my new book Suffering the Tension Between the Seen and the Unseen. My arrival opens up an opportunity.

With this letter you are being invited to book a date with me this spring or summer to speak to your Christian circle in your home, church or town. Here follows a synopsis of the above two areas I would bring to your circle.

One: Stories, Insights and Observations From My Teaching Ministry in the Far East.

Recalling tales and insights garnered from teaching all over the Far East I will open up to your circle first hand experiences and reflections about what is happening in the churches and schools in many places in Asia where I worked. My educational ministry led me into China (as a ‘visitor’ many times), India, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar. I am offering you an opportunity to learn about the underground church in China, about the educational endeavors of the Karen Baptists refugees from Burma now still in camps along the Thai-Burma border and other endeavors.

Two: My New Book and Its Thesis – Applied to Life

While tramping around Asia I wrote a book which by now many of you are reading – Suffering the Tension Between the Seen and the Unseen:The Doing and Undoing of Christian Faith, Spirituality, Ethics, Religion and Culture. My thesis contains a fresh insight and challenge subtly radical in its scope. Reflecting on many of life’s experiences that all people struggle with I argue for the recovery of the native tension inherent in faith and hope. Faith’s trust in the unseen sets up a tension with that which is directly seen, felt and experienced when these gain magnitude – real or imagined. And in the same way hope’s interest in better things coming creates a tension and struggle with the problems and pleasures of the present when these gain ascendancy as if they were the be all and end all. The present and the seen time and again suck us in and under them. Faith and hope reassert a healthy tension without falling into the dualism of Eastern religions. I argue that if and when the Church and individual Christians embrace this tension we risk losing easy favor and friendship of the modern world, but if we fail this tension we risk losing the salt that savors the world (‘earth’).

When you book a meeting inviting me to speak to your church or circle I will open up and apply my simple but far reaching thesis developed from Paul’s dictum “we walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). From the truth embedded in this little phrase I work my insight forward indirectly calling into question many of the forms of spirituality, religion and culture that much of American Christianity has been and is presently generating. Could it be that much of our religion is trespassing faith and hope? This would not be a weighty matter if faith and hope were merely two virtues in a long list spiritual Christian graces but faith and hope along with love are the ethical DNA of the Christian way.

Nothing is quite as dangerous as a new insight into an old truth. Once it is grasped it forever stretches the mind beyond the boundaries once considered fixed, safe and secure.

Booking Details: Timelines and Geographical Areas

You can contact me about booking a meeting via email or by phone: 516-996-0905.

• April and May – the Northeastern USA
• May and June the Southern USA
• June and July Midwest and Western USA

There are no travel or speaking charges to book a meeting except in unique situations. This is an opportunity to learn, think and challenge your faith and broaden your vision of the church in the world. Seize the moment and send me an invitation or inquiry, let’s make a date!

Daniel Age